Spring assembling machines for the manufacture of inner spring mattresses, upholstered furniture and the like



May 8, 1962 7 SPRING ASSEMBLING MACHINES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF Filed Nov. 7, 1958 R. CORNISH 3 033,243

INNER SPRING MATTRESSES, UPHOLSTERED FURNITURE AND THE LIKE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 May 8, 1962 3,033,243

R- 'CORNISH SPRING ASSEMBLING MACHINES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF INNER SPRING MATTRESSES, UPHOLSTERED FURNITURE AND THE LIKE Filed Nov. 7, 1958 Y 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent Ofifice 3,033,243 Patented May 8, 1962 3,033,243 SPRING ASSEMBLING MACHINES FOR THE MAN- UFACTURE F INNER SPRING MATTRESSES, UPHOLSTERED FURNITURE AND THE LIKE Raymond Cornish, Aspendale, Victoria, Australia, as-

signor to Buesst & Bills Brothers Proprietary Limited, South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Filed Nov. 7, 1958, Ser. No. 772,594 Claims priority, application Australia Nov. 8, 1957 9 Claims. (Cl. 140-102) This invention relates to machines for the manufacture of spring assemblies for use in inner spring mattresses, articles of upholstered furniture and the like.

In the manufacture of inner spring mattresses the adjacent transverse rows of body-supporting springs, known as hourglass springs, are locked together by means of long slender helical springs, known as lacing springs.

In the bedding trade such an assembly of springs is known as a Bonnell type spring unit.

The present practice is to assemble these spring units in a spring assembling machine of the type wherein the end coils of adjacent transverse rows of hourglass springs are clamped together while the lacing spring is fed through a spiral groove in the jaws of each clamp. The lacing spring is rotated as it is fed through the clamps so that its coils are wound around the abutting portion of the end coils of the hourglass springs so as to lock them together.

A complete spring assembly for a mattress is built up of a number of transverse rows of hourglass springs which first have all the lower end coils laced together, and the mattress then turned over and the other end coils are similarly laced.

When the lacing operation is completed the mattress spring assembly is placed on a table whereupon another operator cuts off the excess length of the lacing spring with a pair of hand pliers and turns each end coil of the lacing spring so that it lies substantially parallel with the axis of said spring.

The turning of the end coil is essential to prevent the lacing Spring from unwinding during service, and is known in the trade as clenching the lacing spring.

The manual clenching of the lacing spring requires the employment of an operator solely for that purpose and therefore considerably increases the production cost of the spring assembly and the article of furniture including the latter.

Incidentally, the efliciency of the manual clench is dependent entirely upon the skill of the operator.

The principal object of the present invention is therefore to provide an effective attachment for a spring assembling machine whereby the ends of the lacing spring are mechanically clenched thus substantially reducing the assembly time and ensuring a uniform and efficient clench by eliminating completely the deficiencies in the manually clenched lacing springs.

With the above stated principal object in view there is provided, according to the present invention, an attachment for a spring lacing machine of the type herein specified comprising a rotatable member located in or axially movable into a position in the path of travel of the lacing spring, a fixed element attached coaxially to the rotatable member, a bending or clenching element attached to the rotatable member and radially displaced relative to said fixed element, said fixed element and bending element being relatively positioned on the rotatable member to be on opposite sides of a coil of the lacing spring when the rotatable member is positioned in the path of the lacing spring, whereby, upon rotation of the rotatable member, the bending element angularly moves relative to the fixed element to bend portion of said coil of the lacing spring around the fixed element.

Conveniently the above rotatable member is operated in response to the actuation of the clamp release means controlled 'by the operator.

The rotatable member is mounted for axial or bodily movement and rotation, so as to effect in sequence an initial movement to the operative position to engage or receive a coil, preferably the end coil, of the lacing spring, and then rotate to bend the said coil to effect the clenching operation.

One of the attachments is fitted to each terminal clamp of the machine and a cutter can be incorporated in the attachment on the terminal clamp which the lacing spring first enters, to cut off any excess lacing spring before the clenching operation commences.

The invention will be more readily understood from the following description of the practical arrangement of the clenching attachment illustrated in the accompanying drawings:

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a conventional spring assembling machine with a spring clenching attachment fitted to each terminal clamp of the machine. The attachment fitted to the clamp adjacent the spring feeding head also incorporates a cutter to cut oil the excess lacing spring.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the spring assembling machine shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a detailed perspective view of spring clenching attachment fitted to a clamp.

FIG. 4 is a detail plan view of portion of the spring clenching attachment fitted to the clamp most distant from the feeder head showing how the lacing spring is stopped and clenched.

HS. 5 is a'view similar to FiG. 4 of the spring clenching attachment fitted to the clamp adjacent to the feeder head showing how the lacing spring is cut and clenched.

FIG. 6 is an end view of portion of the clamp and clenching attachment showing the position of the spring engaging head when the clamp is open.

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 showing the position of the spring engaging head when the clamp is closed.

FIG. 8 is a detailed side view of the cutter.

Referring now to FIG. 1 the spring assembling machine indicated generally at 10 has a pair of parallel horizontal bars 11 extending the full width of the machine which support a number of hourglass spring clamps 12. The number of clamps 12 is varied according to the width of the mattress being produced. The hourglass springs 13 are shown in broken outlines in FIG. 2.

The end coils of adjacent rows of hourglass springs 13 are held by the clamps 12 so that said end coils slightly over-lap as can be seen in FIG. 2. The fixed and movable jaws 14 and 14a respectively have grooves 16 cut on the inner faces thereof so as to form a continuous helical track when the clamp is closed (as viewed in FIG. 3). The lacing spring 15 as shown in FIG. 2 is fed through the grooves 16 by a feeder head 17 and as it passes through the clamps 12 the coils of said spring are wound around the overlapping end coils of hourglass springs 13.

Referring now to FIG. 3 which shows the clenching attachment fitted to the clamp furthermost from the feeder head, the frame member 18 of the attachment is 'mounted upon the side member 19 of the clamp 12 by the two bolts 20. Longitudinally aligned upper and lower bearings 21 and 22 are provided at the respective ends of the frame member 18.

The shaft 23 is journalled in the bearings 21 and 22 for both rotation about a vertical axis, and relative verti cal sliding movement thereto. The upper end of shaft 23 is enlarged to provide the spring engaging head 24 hax ing a substantially flat horizontal upper face.

Projecting vertically from the upper face of the head 24 is a tapered central pin 26 coaxial with shaft 23, and an eccentrically mounted pin 27 which is substantially shorter than the central pin 26. The height of central pin 26 above the upper face of the head 24 is slightly greater than the diameter of the lacing spring 15, while the height of eccentric pin 27 is substantially equal to the diameter of the wire of the lacing spring 15.

The face of the eccentric pin 27 which is furthermost from the central pin 26 has an outwardly and downwardly directed chamfer 28 (see FIG. 8).

The pinion 29 and collar 30 are fixed to the shaft 23 intermediate the bearings 21 and 22. The under-face of collar 30 rests upon the finger 31 which is pivotally mounted on the frame member 18 by the pin 32. Rigidly connected to the other end of pin 32 is a right-angled lever 33, the end of which is formed so as to pass behind the pivoted arm 34 which carries the movable jaw 14a of clamp 12 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 7. The movable jaw 14a is actuated, through the intermediate link 35, by a hand lever 36 pivotally connected to the projection 37 on the side member 19 of the clamp 12.

A rack 38 is slidably mounted in the frame 18 so as to mesh with pinion 29, the outer end of the rack 38 being slidably supported and guided in the bracket 39 which is suspended from the opposite side member of the clamp 12 to that which the frame 18 is attached. A hardened steel pin 40 shown in FIG. 1 projects from the rear face of the rack, that is the face opposite to the one into which the teeth are cut.

A rocker 41 is pivotally connected by pin 42 to the frame 18, a cam plate 43 is afiixed to the forward end of rocker 41, the rearward end being connected through link 44 to the clamp release bar 45. The abovementioned pin 40 is held in positive engagement with the operating face of cam 43 by a torsion spring 46 attached to a rack 38.

A spring stop 47 is rigidly mounted upon the upper end of frame member 18 and projects into the path of the lacing spring.

In operating the spring assembling machine the trans verse rows of hourglass springs are set up with the end coil of one spring from each row positioned between the jaws of the clamps 12. The springs are positioned, and each clamp is closed, independently by its respective hand lever 36.

As the end clamp furthermost from the feeder head is closed, the pivoted arm 34, carrying the movable jaw 14a, engages with and angularly moves the rightangled lever 33. The angular movement of lever 33 is transmitted through pin 32 to the finger 31 which engages the collar 30 and raises the spring engaging head 24 so that central pin 26 and eccentric pin 27 are in the line of travel of the lacing spring. The lowered and raised position of head 24 are clearly illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7 respectively.

The lacing spring is then fed through the clamps in the conventional manner by the feeder head 17. After the lacing spring has passed through the last clamp the feed is maintained until one coil of the lacing spring has passed between the central pin 26 and the eccentric pin 27 and engaged the stop 47 as shown in FIG. 4. When the lacing spring engages stop 47 the feeding operation is automatically stopped in a known manner.

As the release bar 45 is moved downwardly by the operator, to engage the hand lever 36 and release all the clamps simultaneously, an angular movement is imparted to rocker 41 through link 44. The angular movement of the rocker is translated by cam 43 and pin 42 to a sliding movement of the rack 38 which through the pinion 29 rotates the shaft 23 and head 24.

As the downward movement of the release bar 45 is continued, the head 24 is rotated in the direction shown in FIG. 4 and the eccentric pin 27 engages the end coil of the lacing spring 15 and bends it around the central pin 26 as shown in broken outline in FIG. 4. As the head rotates the point of contact between the spring and the eccentric pin 27 moves around the pin from the inner vertical face of the latter towards the outer chamfered face 28.

When the release bar 45 has been moved sufiiciently to engage the hand levers 36 and release the clamp, the head 24 has been rotated to a position where the spring 15 is in contact with the chamfered face of the eccentric pin, and the pressure therebetween is sutficient to return the head 24 to its initial loweredposition and thereby free the lacing spring.

After the clamps have been released, the release bar is returned to its initial position by a return spring (not shown), and the rack 38 is returned to its initial position,

with the pin 40 engaging cam 43, by torsion spring 46. As the rack 38'returnsit also re-positions the head 24 so that when the rack is raised again the .pins 26 and 27 will be in alignment with the path of travel of the lacing spring.

In this way the end coil of the lacing spring is auto matically bent back or clenched against the main length of the spring as the clamps are released, and thus without any increase in labour or production time, each lacing spring is positively prevented from unwinding during service.

The foregoing description has been related to the construction and operation of the clenching attachment as fitted to the spring clamp furthermost from the feeder head. However, an attachment fitted to the clamp adjacent to the feeder head would clench the spring in an identical manner, but, it is of necessity operated and constructed in a slightly different manner.

The main reason for this difference in operation and construction is that it is preferable for the spring engaging head to remain in its lowered position until after the lacing spring has been fed through the clamps and engaged by the stop 47.

Furthermore it is advantageous for a cutter to be incorporated in this attachment to cut off the excess portion of the lacing spring.

The construction and operation of the attachment fitted to the terminal clamp adjacent to the feeder head can be clearly seen in FIG. 1. The frame 18a, shaft 23a, spring engaging head 24a, pins 26a and 27a and the rack 38a are all identical with the identical components already described. However, collar 30, finger 31 and rightangled lever 33 are not provided to raise the head 24:: into position, and in their place there is provided an extension St) on the shaft 23a which engages lift cam 51.

The rack 38a has a hardened steel pin 40a afiixed to the underside thereof which is engaged by cam 52 in a similar manner to that in which cam plate 43 engages pin 40.

Both cams 51 and 52 are mounted upon shaft 53 supported in the bearings 54 and 55 carried on the frame 10 of the machine. The arm 56 is rigdly connected to the shaft 53 and is also connected to the release bar 45 through link 44a in a similar manner to that in which rocker 41 is connected to the release bar.

A fixed cutter blade 57 is mounted on the frame 18a of the attachment so as to be in substantial transverse alignment with the pin 27a when that pin is in position to commence the clenching operation. The movable cutter blade 58 is pivotally connected to the frame 18a by pin 59 and has its cutting edge in substantially transverse alignment with the fixed cutter 57. The lower end of the movable cutter 58 engages the operating face of the cutter cam 6t) mounted on shaft 53.

The operation of this attachment is completely controlled by the movement of the clamp release bar 45 which imparts an angular movement to the shaft 53 through the link 44a. The cams 51, 52 and 60 are connected to the shaft 53 in such angular relation that, as the release bar 45 is moved downwardly to release the clamps 12, the attachment is operated in the following manner:

Firstly the cutter cam 60 engages the lower end of the movable blade 58 causing angular movement of the latter about the pivot pin 59 and moving the cutting edge thereof towards the fixed blade 57 so as to cut off the excess portion of the lacing spring. Simultaneously with the cutting operation, the spring engaging head 24a is raised by cam 51 so that the end coil of the lacing spring is located between pins 26a and 27a. The cam 52 then engages pin 40a and operates rack 38a to rotate the head 24 and clench the end coil of the lacing spring in the manner already described.

When the release bar 45 is returned to its normal position, after releasing all the clamps, the spring engaged head is returned to its normal position, in the manner previously described, and spring 61 returns the movable cutter blade 58 to engage the stop 62.

I claim:

1. An attachment for a spring lacing machine including end clamps, said attachment comprising a support member for attachment to the spring lacing machine adjacent one of said end clamps, a rotatable member journalled in the support member for rotation and axial movement relative thereto, a first element attached coaxially to the rotatable member, a bending element attached to the rotatable member and radially disposed relative to said first element, said first element and bending element being relatively positioned on the rotatable member to be on opposite sides of a lacing spring with the rotatable member positioned in the path of the lacing spring, means operable in response to actuation of the clamp to move the rotatable member axially into the path of the lacing spring to receive the lacing spring between the first and bending elements and means operable in response to the actuation of said one clamp to rotate the rotatable member with the lacing spring between the first and bending element to bend the spring around the first element, said bending element having a chamfered face disposed radially outwards of the first element to engage the lacing spring with the latter bent a predetermined amount, the lacing spring exerting pressure on the chamfered face to force the rotatable member to move axially out of engagement with the lacing spring.

2. An attachment as claimed in claim 1 in which the means for locating the rotatable member in the path of travel of the lacing spring comprises a finger pivotally connected at one end to the support member, a collar rigidly connected to the rotatable member and disposed vertically above the other end of the finger, and a link mechanism interposed between the finger and the clamp whereby upon the clamp being closed, the finger is angularly moved to engage with the underside of the collar and raise the rotatable member into a position to receive the coil of the lacing spring, and upon opening of the clamp said finger permits the rotatable member to return to its inoperative position.

3. An attachment as claimed in claim 1 wherein the means for locating the rotatable member in the path of travel of the lacing spring comprises a cam disposed to engage said rotatable member, and a link mechanism interposed between said cam and the clamp actuating means whereby in response to the operation of the latter to close the clamp, the rotatable member is raised by the cam to a position to engage a coil of the lacing spring.

4. An attachment as claimed in claim 1 in which the means to rotate the rotatable member comprises a pinion fixed to the rotatable member, a rack slidably mounted in the support member and constantly in mesh with said pinion, and a cam engaging said rack and operable in response to actuation of the clamp actuating means whereby as the latter is operated to open the clamp the cam moves said rack relative to the support member, to thereby rotate the spring engaging member to bend the coil of the lacing spring.

5. An attachment as claimed in claim 2 including means to cut the lacing spring to the required length at one end before the bending operation, said means being operatively connected to the clamp actuating means.

6. An attachment for a spring lacing machine including end clamps, said attachment comprising a support member for attachment to the spring lacing machine adjacent one of said end clamps, a rotatable member journalled in the support member for rotation and axial movement relative thereto, a first element attached coaxially to the rotatable member, a bending element attached to the rotatable member and radially disposed relative to said first element, said first element and bending element being relatively positioned on the rotatable member to be on opposite sides of a lacing spring with the rotatable member positioned in the path of the lacing spring, said bending element having a face furthermost from the first element and chamfered outwardly from the end whereby after the lacing spring has been bent a predetermined amount it engages the chamfered face and exerts pressure on the latter and forces the rotatable member to move axially out of engagement with the lacing spring, a fixed cutter blade mounted upon the support member, a movable cutter blade mounted upon the support member, means operable in response to the operation of the clamp actuating means to move the movable blade in a cutting action relative to the fixed blade, said fixed and movable blades being disposed so as to cut the lacing spring at a point in substantially the same vertical plane as the angularly movable element, means operable in response to actuation of the clamp to move the rotatable member axially into the path of the lacing spring to receive the lacing spring between the first and bending elements and means operable in response to the actuation of the clamp to rotate the rotatable member after the lacing spring has been received between the first and bending element to bend the spring around the first element.

7. An attachment as claimed in claim 6 including spring means and wherein the movable blade is moved into engagement with the fixed blade, under the control of a cam actuatable by the clamp actuating means, said movable blade being returned by said spring means.

8. Spring lacing apparatus comprising clamp means adapted for holding springs in position for a spring lacing operation and including at least one displaccable clamping jaw, said means constituting a guide for movement of a spring lace along a determinable axis, a shaft radially disposed with respect to said axis and radially displaceable with respect thereto, a linkage system coupled to said jaw to operate said jaw, means engaging said linkage system and rendered effective by the latter to displace said shaft towards said axis upon actuation of said clamp means, axially extending pins on said shaft and adapted to be displaced with the latter into positions for receiving said spring lace, said pins being adapted on rotation of said shaft for bending said spring lace thereby locking the same about the first said springs, and means to control said linkage system to open said jaw and rotate said shaft and thereby bend said spring lace, the last said means comprising a displaceable member adapted to engage and operate said linkage system to open said jaw, a pinion on said shaft, a rack engaging said pinion, and means coupling said displaceable member to said rack so that movement of said member rotates said pinion, one of said pins being coaxial with said shaft and the other of said pins being radially spaced from said one pin to wind the spring lace thereon, said other pin having an inclined extremity inclining radially outwards from said one pin and axially towards said shaft, said lace in engaging said extremity being efiective to displace said shaft away from said axis.

9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the second said means includes a collar on said shaft and a pivotal finger operated by said linkage system to displace said collar and thereby said shaft towards said axis.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Cooper Feb. 2, 1892 Strandberg June 6, 1939 November Aug. 18, 1953 Gail Dec. 22, 1953 Medendorp May 4, 1954 

